New Genshin Impact character is so bad that players around the world are begging for fixes

Genshin Impact character Dehya holding claymore
(Image credit: MiHoYo)

Genshin Impact's newest character is so unbelievably underpowered that players from all around the world are begging developer MiHoYo to fix her.

After fans were already unimpressed with her leaked abilities, Dehya was released on the gacha game's new banner last week (she'll permanently move to the standard banner after), and the five-star pyro character turned out to be even worse than predicted.

Dehya's AoE fire damage and auto-pilot ultimate attack, or burst, do pitiful damage and poorly synergize with other characters—a necessity in the game's hardest battles. Merely jumping or running into a wall while she's performing her burst can cancel it, wasting loads of potential damage. She can even die while you're swapped to another character if they take enough hits within her AoE buff. Dehya isn't the fierce warrior from the game's Sumeru storyline that fans fell in love with and eagerly awaited for her to be playable; she's a liability.

In Genshin's two-year lifespan, MiHoYo has only buffed one underpowered character, despite frequent cries from players who want their new favorite to be meta. But that hasn't stopped people from rallying around the hashtag #FixDehya on social media in an attempt to convince the developer that she needs some help.

Fans are posting an image with a list of desired buffs to make  Dehya fit into Genshin's elemental reaction-based combat. During her burst, for example, her attacks count as burst attacks, which can't trigger additional damage from other characters like Yelan and Beidou who have reactions that require normal attacks. Combined with her low damage output, there's almost no reason to use her over other pyro characters.

"I see a lot of sentiment that our chances of getting Dehya fixed are impossible and everything is futile," Reddit user SadMountainofSalt wrote in a lengthy Reddit post explaining how to spread the word about Dehya. "I'm here to tell you that we actually have better chances than you probably think.

"Fixing Dehya is not an issue of 'they can't,' or 'won't,' it's a matter of us showcasing we deserve better."

The post encourages people to email MiHoYo, use the in-game suggestions box, post on social media with the hashtag #FixDehya, and to alert influencers and press. Several people in the thread have posted screenshots of their emails and customer service responses, many of which say the feedback will be passed on to the development team.

On Sunday, the Genshin Impact Twitter posted art of Dehya to celebrate five million followers. Underneath the tweet are hundreds of replies asking for MiHoYo to fix Dehya, many of which include the image with suggested changes. 

"Thanks for commissioning a pic with our girl Dehya, now fix her," one Twitter user wrote.

Chinese and Japanese players have apparently started posting #FixDehya, too.

Diehard Genshin players often find reasons to complain about new characters not fitting into their high-level play, but Dehya's issues include bugs where her attacks miss nearby targets and her skill fails to work. Some fans have said they're more upset that it doesn't seem like she was properly tested before release more than her place in the meta. And others are just happy to have been lucky enough to pull their new favorite character.

MiHoYo hasn't made any comment about Dehya, but I've contacted the developer and will update this post if I get a response.

Associate Editor

Tyler has covered games, games culture, and hardware for over a decade before joining PC Gamer as Associate Editor. He's done in-depth reporting on communities and games as well as criticism for sites like Polygon, Wired, and Waypoint. He's interested in the weird and the fascinating when it comes to games, spending time probing for stories and talking to the people involved. Tyler loves sinking into games like Final Fantasy 14, Overwatch, and Dark Souls to see what makes them tick and pluck out the parts worth talking about. His goal is to talk about games the way they are: broken, beautiful, and bizarre.